I just returned from a week long vacation with my sisters, our respective children, and some close female friends, who are practically sisters to me. There is nothing like a week with the girls to nourish your soul. It was a week filled with girl-talk, soul searching, eating, bucket list-making, confessing, sharing, bonding, and more eating.
We've been doing this for 4 years now. We head to Rehoboth Beach, Delaware every August for a week. It's like a miniature family reunion of sorts. Two of my 3 sisters fly in from Florida and Arizona for the week. A close family friend also comes from Florida. The rest of us travel from Pennsylvania and New Jersey.
My sisters and I grew up going to Rehoboth Beach each summer. I have fond memories of our trips there with our parents. It was always at the end of August, and it was always the entire family. And it was always tons of fun. We stopped going in the mid-80's when my parents separated. In 2007, my niece decided to surprise the family with a trip to Rehoboth. Imagine our joy and surprise. After all those years, we were reviving our Rehoboth trips.
In the summer of 2007, a mere month before our trip, my mother passed away. We were heart broken but knew that a family vacation would do us good. However, the fact that my mother wasn't present hung over us like a big, dark cloud. In July 2008, my father passed away 3 weeks prior to our trip. It seemed as if our trips were doomed. Finally, last summer the curse was broken.
The vacations have evolved. We've been in 3 different houses in 4 years. We've experienced some attrition. There has been divorce, separation, break ups, and new relationships. The little kids have grown physically. The adults have grown emotionally. But one thing has remained constant: the vacation itself. We wouldn't miss it for anything.
This year everyone gathered in New Jersey on the Friday prior to our departure. On Saturday, we met at my house and drove to Cape May, New Jersey to catch a ferry to Delaware.
Everyone gathered so that I could take a picture. Don't you love the feeling of a full vacation in front of you? It's obvious how excited everyone was to kick off the week.
What's a ferry ride without a little clowing around?
The weather was fabulous. We enjoyed plenty of time on the beach, but not in the water. The riptides were fierce. We learned quickly on our first day that we were risking our lives going in any deeper than our knees.
There was plenty of digging, burying, and posing...
To stay cool, we tried a water park for a day.
The weather was amazing...until Hurricane Earl came to town. Cloudy, misty morning. So I took pictures, and we went shopping.
Looking for washed up treasures...
Keeping a watchful eye on Earl...
By later that afternoon, Earl had moved up the eastern seaboard. The sun occasionally peeked through the clouds, and we enjoyed one final evening in Rehoboth Beach. As is tradition, we devoured our last dinner at Grotto Pizza.
And now the countdown begins for next year's week in Rehoboth!